"On March 23,
after being recommended in a unanimous 18-0 vote by the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, former Vietnam-era covert operative and Contra-era
figure Richard Armitage was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of State in a
voice vote on the Senate Floor. The unchallenged confirmation of a
figure who had previously been investigated by President Reagan's
Commission on Organized Crime (1984) for alleged links to gambling and
prostitution was totally ignored by the major American media. Armitage
has already begun work at the State Department and is deeply involved in
negotiations over a US spy plane recently captured by the Chinese
government."